Compassion Satisfaction, Compassion Fatigue and Resiliency Factors

Abstract

As an integral part of the social safety net that supports United States Armed Forces veterans, social workers are often exposed to traumatic experiences, and this exposure can have both positive and negative impacts on these clinical providers. The aim of this study was to identify what factors help to mitigate compassion fatigue and strengthen compassion satisfaction among social workers working with veterans. Specifically, it investigated what personal or professional factors had an impact of compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue among social workers.¶

The hypotheses of this study were that personal counseling, veteran status, regular clinical supervision, and educational attainment would increase compassion satisfaction among social workers, and that specialized trauma training and length of time spent working with veterans would decrease compassion fatigue. To test the hypotheses an online survey consisting of the Professional Quality of Life Scale (ProQoL 5), the chief instrument used to measure compassion satisfaction and compassion fatigue, and a demographic questionnaire was shared with social workers registered with the NASW national chapter and the state NASW chapter of a middle-Atlantic state. The 103 survey respondents were split into two groups – a control group of social workers who didn’t work with veterans and an experimental group of social workers who worked with veterans. The data were analyzed using independent sample t-tests, Chi-Square, ANOVA, and Linear Regression methods. The results did not show any clinically significant differences between the two samples. Across the entire sample there was a clinically significant correlation between secondary trauma stress (one component of CF along with burnout) and personal psychotherapy. ¶

These results suggest that social workers who are experiencing secondary traumatic stress are inclined to pursue their own clinical treatment as a path toward recovery and healing, and that this helps social workers to continue engaging in the work. Organizations who employ social workers would benefit from increasing access to personal counseling and by decreasing barriers to social workers seeking out counseling. Additionally, organizations would also benefit from improving training opportunities that mitigate compassion fatigue and support personal counseling and could possibly increase compassion satisfaction.